Making a best seller list

Last week I discovered my latest release, EVIDENCE OF GRACE debuted at #18 in the Christian market according to Christian Retailing Magazine. Wow. This is my first best seller list. Needless to say I'm excited. The book is currently holding steady at #38 in the fiction category. That's four months later and out of more than 4000 books on the market. Another wow.

Please don't take this post as a blatant opportunity for self gloating and self-promotion. I'm just a little overwhelmed. While I want to celebrate and shout it from the rooftops that someone other than my mother is actually buying my books, cracking the top 50 in fiction sales makes me wonder what I did right with this book and what has gained it some attention.

I don't think this book is particularly better than its predecessors though writing is like performing brain surgery. The more you do it, the better you get. My goal is that every book I write will be better than the last since I strive to keep learning and honing my craft. So maybe it is a better book. Maybe I'm a much better writer than I was a few years ago and my material and storylines stronger the last.

Or maybe it's more than that.

Sometimes a completely unknown writer will write a novel that skyrockets to the top of the best seller charts. But it doesn't happen often. That's why it makes the news. Check out a best seller list. Nearly every author on there is a well known name. They are typically published through a large publishing house. There are many reasons behind this, but the most logical is name recognition.

You are building a business here, dear writer. Your goal isn't just to sell one book. You want to sell yourself. As you continue to write and put more published works under your belt, you will increase your likelihood of debuting your next novel at a noticable place on a best seller list.

I am thoroughly shocked that this has happened with EVIDENCE OF GRACE. Not that I didn't have faith in the book. It's a wonderful story. I hope people out there buying it will agree. I am just surprised that the books are getting noticed. EVIDENCE OF GRACE is the third book in my Jenna's Creek series so I am hoping this will translate into sales for the two previous books.

I made a lot of rookie mistakes in the marketing and promotion of the first books. But this is a learning process just like any other business. Let's keep learning and growing together.

Teresa